A six year old wants to start guitar

[LiveMusic]

A friend plays keyboard. His son has expressed interest in learning guitar. Age six. The dad is considering buying a mini size Fender Squire Strat, $99. Mini Strat

 

Is the kid too young? Is guitar the right instrument? If guitar, is this one okay or an acoustic better? If acoustic, which one.

 

I don't have kids, so I don't know. But six seems really young for guitar.

[exhaust_49]

Electric guitars are easier to play then acoustics. Stick with a cheep electric (in case he gets sick of it) and a light set of strings.

As for the age, as long as he has the patience to learn the basics he's set. I would never stop someone at any age from learning any instrument. Not only is music a gift, studies have shown that playing music helps with memory and generally makes you smarter.

All the power to him. Just get ready to soundproof his room!

[rockfan]

Kids are usually started on the piano, not guitar.
As they reach teenage years they switch to guitar, bass, drums, or keyboards.
But, if they can get this kid started at that young of age on guitar, then more power to them.
I doubt the kid will keep up with it. They usually give up after a few weeks. But, they usually pick it up again after a few years.

[thenakedarab]

Originally posted by LiveMusic A friend plays keyboard. His son has expressed interest in learning guitar. Age six. The dad is considering buying a mini size Fender Squire Strat, $99. Mini Strat Is the kid too young? Is guitar the right instrument? If guitar, is this one okay or an acoustic better? If acoustic, which one. I don't have kids, so I don't know. But six seems really young for guitar.

My son is 6 and loves his mini-strat cause it looks just like dads. The thing plays incredibly well and sounds very good. I have played it through my Mesa Tremoverb 2x12, my Digitech RP 200 into both a Pignose and headphones, and just straight into the Pignose and the guitar always brings a smile to my face.

I got it for him after he strummed his yard sale cheapo acoustic one day till he got a blister on his thumb, popped the blister from playing more, and continued to play after that. I asked him if it stung, and he said yeah a little bit, then went back to strumming. I was so proud I could've cried. Don't make it to hard for them, let them build their love for it at their own pace. My son can't play any complex chords yet as his hands aren't that strong yet, but I tune it to an open tuning, and let him work on his timing and rhythm, while doing one finger bar chords. I have him start off by doing at least 15 min of counting and strumming every time he plays, and after that he is welcome to do as he pleases. Often he'll just sit there in front of the tv strumming in time to his counting for like a half hour plus though. As his hands get a little bigger and stronger, and he can deal with more chord shapes I will start teaching him more.

[kwakatak]

Whatever you do, DON'T buy him an Esteban!

In any other case, $99 is not a lot of $$$ to spend on gear as long he has a genuine interest in it and not just being forced into it. Probably the best thing your frend could do in addition to buying that mini-strat would be to find a good teacher who doesn't just teach from the Mel Bay method. I started when I was 7 or 8 and lost interest in it for that very reason.

[guitarcapo]

I'd get that mini strat and a small solid state amp and let the kid go to town. Get him a tuner too. 6 years old is about when Mozart wrote his first symphony on piano isn't it? I've seen enough Asian kids that age wail on violin enough to know that 6 isn't too young to start a musical instrument.